SAN FRANCISCO — Billionaire Eric Schmidt feels more comfortable taking a million-dollar paycheck as Google’s (GOOG) former CEO than he did when he was running the Internet’s most powerful company.

After voluntarily limiting his annual salary to $1 during most of his 10-year reign as Google’s CEO, Schmidt is getting a $1.25 million raise in his new job as executive chairman. The bigger paycheck kicked in April 4 when Schmidt was replaced as CEO by Google co-founder Larry Page.

Under the revised compensation package, filed with federal regulators Tuesday, Google will pay Schmidt an annual bonus of up to $6 million.

Schmidt, 55, ranks among the world’s wealthiest people with an estimated net worth of $7 billion that he accumulated mostly from the stock he bought and received after becoming Google’s CEO in 2001.

When Schmidt joined Google, the company had less than $90 million in annual revenue. In Schmidt’s last year as CEO, Google’s annual revenue surpassed $29 billion.

Google’s board has offered to pay Schmidt more money each year only to be rebuffed. Schmidt accepted this time when a Google board committee consisting of Intel (INTC) CEO Paul Otellini and venture capitalist John Doerr decided he deserved a raise in his new role focusing on acquisitions and government relations. The board also wanted to reward Schmidt for his past accomplishments as CEO, according to a Google spokesman.

The raise and bonus plan supplement a stock package valued at $100 million that the board awarded Schmidt shortly after the late January announcement about Google’s planned change in command. The stock will vest during the next four years, a sign that Google wants Schmidt to stick around.

Page and Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who each have fortunes of $20 billion, also have insisted on maintaining the salaries at $1 and have refused other compensation besides a $1,000 holiday bonus that Google has handed out to all employees most years.

Now that he is CEO, Page is still being paid $1, as is Brin, who is working on long-term projects for the company.

By accepting paltry paychecks, Schmidt, Page and Brin signaled to shareholders that they believed the company’s strategy and hard work would produce a higher stock price. Because they are among the largest shareholders, their wealth increases as the stock price rises.

Although Google’s stock is about 30 percent below its peak price reached in late 2007, the shares still have increased by more than fivefold since the company went public in 2004.

Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs has limited his salary to a $1 as the gadget maker’s stock has soared in recent years.

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